‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.
‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.
‘And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.’ (V. 9)
Have you ever seen something in the night that was strange and a bit frightening? Probably. I know I have sometimes seen out of the corner of my eye movement. So, because I am driving, I look off in that direction expecting a deer. Yet, I see nothing. I have never been sure if it has been a trick of my eyes or what it is I see.
You have probably had a similar experience. At least in the sense of seeing something strange that you cannot explain. That is what these shepherds saw. After all, imagine if you will you are sitting on a hillside with some of your buddies. All of you are surrounded by the sheep that you are watching over as you do most nights.
Perhaps you have built a sod fire, remember much of the wood of the region has been stripped from the countryside for other uses for years. This is of course assuming there was enough extra grass growing that you could afford to waste it on a fire. Most likely these men were sitting in the dark either talking or just dozing, half asleep.
Watching grazing animals would not have been terribly exciting. At the most, there was the random and infrequent attack by a thief; either of the animal or human variety. All of a sudden, in the midst of a star thick sky, there appears this creature you have never seen before and whose radiance was blinding. It would have been easy to be afraid. In fact, it is a miracle of our merciful God that these men were not driven mad by the appearing of the angel. He boomingly declares to all of you a glorious message, if true. Then the scene takes a turn and becomes crazier. A mighty host, the size of a great and glorious army appears and begins singing!
‘And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”’ (Vv. 10-12)
Considering what was the response of these men, that is, abject terror, it is no wonder that the first angel to appear to them begins the way he does. This angel begins as the angels always begin when we meet them in the four Gospels, he tells them, “Fear not!”
Have you ever noticed this message? I mean, really noticed it and thought about it?
Think about it now.
What is the angel really telling you and me? He is telling us an incredible and amazing mystery. Consider those glorious words again. ‘[He] “who is Christ the Lord. … You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”’ (Vv. 11-12) The first, for the angel to declare that the one born is the “Lord” is to use a Greek word commonly used to refer to God, either the true God or pagan idols. In other words, the angel is saying that God has been born to all people that night. Again, the second statement that the angel gives us tells us for sure that the individual being referred to really is a tiny newborn baby. For this one is wrapped in swaddling cloths.
Such a wrap, as young mothers know, is even today common for newborns as it helps them to adjust to the abrupt change from womb to the outside world. So, we have an angel making proclamation to these poor rejected men using divine terms and terms for infants. Such a contradiction would have only confused these men all the more.
How is it that our big God put himself into the confines of a tiny baby? Not simply the smallness of a newborn, but the microscopic smallness of a newly conceived baby! We cannot comprehend such a thing, but there it is. This is the reality of our merciful and loving God. He not only came into this sin-filled, yucky world of ours to rescue us from our sin. Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, became one of us!
Now think about what is going on in our lives today. The government is getting evermore into the personal details of our lives. And this they do whether we have asked them or not. They are assuming that the government knows better than any of us here. This current government is grabbing for power that is not given them by our Constitution. Not only this, our economy is still struggling. Large numbers of our fellow Americans are out of work. We may be one of them. We very likely know at least one person who is out of work because of the economy. In view of this, those who are out of work are in grave danger of major depression and other mental and thus spiritual trials.
On top of all these things, the harvest has been a trial for many. At the very least it has been an exercise of patience for the farmers as they have worked to get the crops out of the field. None of this is what we would have wished for ourselves at last Christmas. Yet, remember that proclamation of the angel. ‘[He] “who is Christ the Lord. … You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”’ (Vv. 11-12)
If our big, infinite God can know how to get Himself into the form the size of a newborn baby, it is our blessed confidence that this same God can also know and want to see us through all that we are now experiencing. No matter how bad it may be, we know this for sure. ‘But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we mighty become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.’ (Titus 3:4-7)
Your Savior has rescued you from your sin. He did not do this because you deserved it for some reason. No, Jesus rescued you because of His own mercy. So, we can be confident that our God will rescue us and bring us through whatever trial and trouble has come our way this year. Whatever you are going through, the Savior whom you trust in for your salvation cares. He has promised never to forsake (Heb. 13:5, 6) His chosen ones and He has promised to also provide what you need.
With this in view, we sing with the angelic hosts:
‘“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among
those with whom he is
pleased!”’ (V. 14)
God loves you and has reconciled you to Himself. His armies now declare this peace to you and me. Let us now worship and adore our incarnate Savior and God with reverence and awe.
In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.
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